Singing Fools was a short-lived Canadian non-performing musical group based in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario, Canada, composed of musicians Tim Dunlop and Kevin Murphy. The pair wrote and recorded hip hop-style songs with politically focused lyrics.

History

The Singing Fools came together in November 1982. The released a self-produced 1982 vinyl single, ''The Bum Rap'', which received wide airplay on campus radio and was a criticism of the Canadian government's wage and price control program. Its sparse guitar and drum box arrangement was overlain by excerpts of Prime Minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...

's infamous exhortation during the 1970 October Crisis to " just watch me". The song was later touted as Canada's first rap record, even though it was actually preceded by several 1979 singles by the lesser-known rapper

Mr. Q ''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...

.Michael Rancic
"Finding Mr. Q"
'' Hazlitt'', March 17, 2021. By 1985 the pair had released their third "civil defencercise" themed record ''The Apocalypso'' and its accompanying video which was given regular rotation on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

. The nuclear war-themed clip featured a cameo dance appearance by Ottawa Mayor Marion Dewar. The extended-play vinyl disc also featured a track entitled "Grave Expectations," a drum-backed recitation by English historian and anti-nuclear activist, E.P. Thompson, of his apocalyptic 1950 verse on atomic war, "The Place Called Choice". That year the Singing Fools were signed by A&M Records; A&M re-released ''The Apocalypso'', but dropped the group after a few months and the band released its self-produced mini-LP, ''Call Me Lucky'' in 1986. The same year, Singing Fools were nominated (by themselves) as "best independent artist" in the CASBY Awards sponsored by Toronto's CFNY-FM. A 1987 distribution deal with German indie label, Amok Records led to the Cold War-themed single, ''Funkenstrasse (Europa's on the Radio)''.Evelyn Erskine. ''The Ottawa Citizen''. Ottawa, Ont.: May 1, 1987. p. F.5 After Murphy and Dunlop parted company in the 1990s Singing Fools was transformed into an internet-based music and video production company.

References

{{Authority control Canadian hip hop groups Musical groups from Ottawa Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1990 1982 establishments in Ontario 1990 disestablishments in Ontario